The Challenge

The Challenge (1982) is a US–Japan action drama directed by John Frankenheimer — watch it online on iFILM. Scott Glenn plays Rick, a broke American boxer who takes what looks like a simple courier job: get a sword to Japan. He lands in the middle of a blood feud that's been running for decades.

Two brothers are at war. One runs his life by the samurai code; the other runs a business empire. Both claim the sword, and neither will negotiate. Rick gets pulled to one side, gets trained, and has to decide what he actually stands for. Toshiro Mifune — the face of Kurosawa's samurai films — plays the traditionalist brother, and his scenes carry a gravity that makes the whole film feel weightier than it has any right to.

Frankenheimer shot the action on location in Kyoto, which gives the fight sequences a texture that studio sets can't fake. For fans of martial arts cinema with a cross-cultural edge, this one holds up. Stream The Challenge (1982) on iFILM.